A clothes dryer is a home appliance in which hot air is supplied into a drying drum to remove moisture from clothes or other items to be dried (hereinafter referred to collectively as “clothes”), when an object to be dried is place in the drying drum and the drying drum is rotated. The hot air supplied into the drying drum may be generated by electrical resistance heat or combustion heat using a gas fuel, for example, and supplied into the drying drum using a fan, for example.
The clothes dryer may be classified into a circulating dryer and a ventilating dryer according to a hot air supply system. That is, the circulating dryer is a dryer using a method in which hot air supplied into the drying drum is repeatedly heated and cooled, while circulated in the dryer, and the ventilating dryer is a dryer using a method in which hot air supplied into the drying drum escapes from the drying drum and is then discharged outside of the dryer.
In a drying process, lint may be separated from clothes and float in air discharged from the drying drum, and foreign substances in the clothes may be dropped to a bottom of the drying drum. To remove the lint contained in the air discharged from the drying drum, a lint filter assembly or lint filter may be installed at or in a passage of air discharged from the drying drum.
When the lint is accumulated in the lint filter, a flow of the air may be obstructed, and a load of the fan increased. As a result thereof, a drying performance may be degraded, power consumption may increase, and a breakdown of the fan may result. Further, the lint generated in the drying process may flow into a fan motor or a combustion device installed under the drying drum through a gap between the drying drum and a cabinet, and thus, a fire may be caused in or by the dryer.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, foreign substances accumulated at the lint filter should be periodically removed. In a case of a separable lint filter, a user should periodically separate and clean the lint filter, and then should reinstall the lint filter.
Various methods for easily removing lint accumulated at or on the lint filter have been attempted. Recently, a lint removing structure in which lint is removed using water, while the lint filter is installed in the dryer, has been proposed. For example, in Korean Patent No. 10-1186159 (hereinafter “related art”), which is hereby incorpated by reference, there is disclosed a filter cleaning device of a clothes dryer.
According to the related art, water is sprayed through nozzles provided at a front and a rear of the lint filter, and thus, lint accumulated at or on the lint filter is removed. The water sprayed from the nozzles and a lump of lint separated from the lint filter are introduced into a drain pump and then discharged outside of the dryer.
However, in a case of a conventional drain pump, a clogging phenomenon, in which foreign substances sucked into the drain pump block a suction hole of the drain pump or are wound around an impeller, may be caused while the drain pump is operated. The clogging phenomenon may increase a load of the drain pump, and thus, the drain pump may be damaged by the increase in the load of the drain pump.